We're Not Gonna Take It
by jak981125
Summary: When a new serial killer starts targeting bounty hunters, the Bebop crew is all too eager to nail the guy before he nails them.


Session 6 WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT by jak981125  
  
Note: This work is part of a series. It will make more sense if you read the earlier sessions.  
  
On earth there is one of the most impressive flower gardens you will ever see. If you're ever there and are into that kind of thing, you should go see it. Lau was not into that kind of thing but he was certainly into the girl who owned the garden. Faye was the legal owner of the property upon which her childhood home had been built. On that painful day when she had found the property, it was nothing but an empty patch of earth.  
  
At that same moment a few million miles away, Jet was thinking about that day too. Ed had left them and taken Ein with her. Jet and Spike were absolutely miserable over her departure. Ed had meant a great deal more to them than a mere hacker. In a profession where you run across so many morally depraved people it was a huge comfort to have the innocence of a child around. Besides that, they loved Ed's happy, silly personality. It was contagious. She could be a handful at times but she was loved by one and all. You never realize how much someone means to you until they're gone.  
  
After her departure Jet and Spike tried everything to distract themselves. They had gorged themselves on an entire basket of eggs that her father had given them. Then they spent the next few days getting drunk. Even in that time, Jet had caught Spike taking a pinwheel that Ed had given him as her way of saying good-bye, and lashing it to the front of the ship. It wasn't long after that when Jet lost Spike too.  
  
No doubt about it, Jet was feeling terribly lonely. You can hardly blame him. Faye and Lau were on earth, Ed, Ein and Spike were gone, his old partner on the police force turned out to be a traitor, and his one remaining friend was gone. That one remaining friend was Bob. After a week of training in the art of bounty hunting aboard the Bebop, Bob had sold his apartment and moved to Venus. Jet knew that Ed would frequently correspond with Faye by e-mail. He felt like sending her one himself telling her that he missed her but he didn't want her to feel bad. She was with her father now.  
  
In the meantime, Faye was showing Lau what she had done with that empty patch of dirt. She had turned it into one of the most impressive flower gardens within a one-thousand mile radius. "Lau, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you for a while," she said slowly. "That night when you got hurt, would you have... shot Spike?" Without a moment's hesitation, Lau nodded. "I had a job to protect Vicious," replied Lau. "That doesn't mean I wasn't fond of Spike or that I think he had no justification." "Yeah, but knowing what you know now..." "I still would have done it," interrupted Lau. "Then again... knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. As wrong as Vicious was, I still didn't want to see either one of them hurt." Faye seemed satisfied to some extent with that answer.  
  
"There's been a question nagging at my mind for a while too," said Lau. "What's that?" asked Faye. "Were you in love with Spike?" he asked. Faye stopped dead in her tracks. That was an extremely difficult question to answer. So she gave the most honest answer that she could. "I don't know." She started to walk away but then turned around to face Lau. "First of all, he was always obsessed over Julia, so any feelings there certainly weren't mutual. Second of all, we were friends, and that just complicates the whole thing. I was always impressed by Spike though. I certainly found him attractive." She closed her eyes and remembered everything about Spike she had liked. "He was so suave, so cool, so brave, so tough, and yet... and yet he was always obsessed with death. That's one thing I like about you. You aren't like that at all."  
  
Lau wasn't sure whether or not he had just been complimented. Faye saw the look of confusion in his eyes and chuckled. "You on the other hand are more down to earth. You're less obsessed with things like dying, or the past. And you don't seem disgusted by me when I'm in one of my moods." "And what about all those other things like cool and handsome?" asked Lau with a smile. "Handsome, definitely. Cool and suave, no." She saw a stunned look on his face. "Don't you get it? That means that you know how to be yourself. You're more self-confident and sincere and don't always have to put on this macho act for the whole world. I wish I was more like you."  
  
Faye thought she would have to elaborate more on that but she could see from his eyes that he understood. Faye put on an act 24 hours a day to hide the hurt and scared girl inside. Spike had often done the same thing but was a little bit more open. With Lau, on the other hand, what you saw was what you got. She was glad she had met his mother because he definitely came across as someone's son. The two held hands as they walked back to their campsite.  
  
The fact was that they had decided to take some time off to go camping on earth. They had rented a special shelter to protect them from any falling meteors. Jet had been welcomed to come, but when Faye had asked him if he wanted to, he noticed Lau behind her desperately signaling for him to say no. The message was clear. He wanted some time alone with her. Jet understood but in a way it hurt his feelings to be excluded. He was still upset and in a bad mood when they returned to Bebop. Jet ended up regretting what happened next.  
  
When they walked in they were doing a lot more than holding hands. They were playing kissy-face and it was enough to make Jet vomit. "What do you mean bringing something like this aboard my ship?" he asked Lau angrily. Jet was holding a framed photograph. Lau recognized it immediately. "You went through my room?" he asked angrily. "It's my ship and I have a right to look through any part of it that I want to," replied Jet. "And I won't have a photo of Vicious on board this ship." What Jet was holding was a picture of Lau, Vicious, and Talia that they had taken while on vacation a while back. Vicious was actually smiling in it, and it was a real smile. "The guy was my brother-in-law, I already told you that," said Lau as he snatched the picture from Jet. "Is it so inconceivable that he might show up in a few photographs of mine?" "That creep killed my partner. I won't have any pictures of him on my ship and that's that," scowled Jet. "You either get rid of that picture, or cut out the part with Vicious in it." "Wait a minute, Lau shouldn't have to mutilate a photo just to please you," said Faye. "You stay out of this Faye, Loverboy can speak for himself," replied Jet.  
  
Now this was just plain silly. Jet was angry about being left out and made an unconscious decision to pick a fight when Lau came back. "If that photo goes, I go," said Lau. "Who's stopping you," replied Jet. "Yeah, well if he goes, I go too," snarled Faye. "Go! Bon Voyage! Maybe I'll have some peace around here for once," said Jet. Now if Spike had been there he wouldn't have been the least bit offended by that picture. But the fact is that Jet just had never been quite himself since Spike and Ed left and he didn't realize it. The end result of this argument was that Faye and Lau packed their things and within twenty minutes were on their way Mars.  
  
"He didn't really mean it," said Faye to Lau, as soon as they had landed. "He gets mad sometimes and needs to cool off. This happened to Spike once. He was back on Bebop in a couple days." Faye may have sounded confident, but she was smart enough to know that this wasn't like Jet at all. "I'm not sure I want to go back after that!" replied Lau. "Hey, if you get scared off that easy by one little fight, you won't last long anywhere," grinned Faye. She went over and put her arms around Lau. "He's hurting and he won't admit it. Just give him some time." Faye and Lau checked into a hotel. Lau couldn't help but hope that Jet came to his senses quickly. The nightly rates at this hotel were a killer.  
  
Speaking of killers, it might have interested the Bebop crew to know that at that very moment there was a killer on the loose. It might have further interested them to know that this guy was targeting bounty hunters. He wasn't shy about it either. Remember the Memphis brothers from "Heavy Metal Queen"? He walked right into a bar on Mars and wasted all three of them in broad daylight. And while everyone stood aghast, he walked over to the bar, stole a bottle of gin, and walked out. The ISSP took prints from the counter but the guy didn't seem to have a prior record. A ten million bounty was put out on the guy right away. The problem is that cowboys rely on photos most of the time. All they had on this guy was a rough description. Blonde hair in a pony tail, brown eyes, 6' 2", and carries a machine gun. That was all. And the bounty hunters all lived with the fear that if they didn't catch this guy he would catch them.  
  
Sadly, as Lau and Fay walked through a downtown shopping district the next morning, they still hadn't heard about this guy. That's when Lau recognized a familiar gleam on top of a nearby office building. He couldn't quite remember what it signified or where he had seen it before, but he did remember not liking it. Then he suddenly remembered. "FAYE, GET DOWN!" He grabbed Faye and both of them hit the deck just in time. A shot was fired from the building. The gleam had been the sun reflecting off the scope of a sniper rifle. A panic ensued and everyone dove for cover. Lau on the other hand knew how to deal with snipers. As soon as he was behind the engine block of a nearby car, he returned fire. Sure enough, that gleam from the building disappeared. Lau and Faye raced towards the building where they had seen the shooter. They ran into the building and split up. Faye guarded the elevator while Lau took the stairs and ran up to the roof. As soon he got up there, he searched very carefully, but no one was around. He looked over the edge, only to see a guy climbing down the fire escape. Lau had to jump out of the way to avoid being shot.  
  
"Faye, he's coming down the fire escape," yelled Lau into his communicator as he raced down the stairs. Faye ran around to the side of the building. She spotted the guy just as he had reached the bottom. She too had to jump out of the way to avoid being shot. She couldn't go running blindly into the alley, so she fumbled for a mirror in her pocket so she could see around the corner. By the time she got it out, a car raced past her. The driver was the sniper. She fired at the car but he sped off. Faye was not a woman to give up on a pursuit so easily. She hailed the next cab that came by and when it stopped, she grabbed the driver and threw him out of the car. Just then, Lau came sprinting out of the front of the building. As Faye was peeling away, he had just enough time to jump onto the roof of the cab.  
  
Faye tore off after the guy as Lau struggled to hold on to the roof. She followed the car for about a mile. Thank goodness the cab had a sunroof. Lau finally managed to pull himself inside. A railroad track crossed the road up ahead and a train was coming. The sniper, after seeing Faye's driving decided he'd rather take his chances and race the train. He made it across the tracks with time to spare. Faye thought for a moment she could make it too. "Faye! Don't try it!" screamed Lau in horror. She slammed on the brakes at the last possible moment and the train went by. That is to say a big long freight train with over a hundred cars went by. She punched the steering wheel in anger. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Well we probably would have thrown a rod at the speed we were going anyway, eh Lau?" Lau didn't answer. He was frozen with fear. He had dug his fingernails into the seat so hard that they had torn through the leather interior. "So are you going to let go or do I have to get the Jaws of Life?" asked Faye coolly.  
  
On board the Bebop, Jet was watching the news when they broke the story about the man that the media dubbed the "Cowboy Killer". The news story included footage of the taxi cab that Faye had hijacked. When Jet heard about that detail, he knew of only one person that would have behaved so recklessly. It had to be Faye. Now he was starting to feel bad about pushing them out. He decided to board the Hammerhead and head for Mars to help catch that creep. He had no idea where the shooter was or where Lau and Faye were, but he was just itching to bring this guy in. A little part of him also wanted to rub it in Faye's face when he did.  
  
In the meantime back on Mars, Faye was making a few calls from a pay phone. "Hey, I know I'm a little behind on my bills but you've got some nerve sending a hit man after me! You didn't? You sure about that? When will I make my next payment? Oops, the connection's going bad... bye now!" Just then she and Lau heard a familiar roar overhead. It was the Hammerhead. Lau turned on his communicator. "Yo!"  
  
"...and then the guy beats the train and I had to slam on the brakes... oh yeah, and Lau nearly soiled himself." Jet didn't laugh one bit at that last comment. "Gees I'm sorry. If I hadn't been such a grouch, this might not have happened." "Might not have?" asked Lau. "This guy may have been targeting you two even if you had still been on the Bebop. He's a killer who's targeting bounty hunters for some reason. Every cowboy in the solar system wants to nail this guy but nobody knows who he is or where to find him. There's no info on this guy." "Except maybe his license plate number," replied Faye. "I made sure to memorize it while we were chasing him." "Faye, you're brilliant!" exclaimed Jet. "That means we're the only ones who have the lowdown on this guy!" "We?" she replied. "I only see me and Lau here." Jet sighed. "Look, I already said I'm sorry. He can keep the picture. I don't care. I've just been feeling so down ever since... you know." He didn't need to say anymore. They understood.  
  
Jet now needed a new inside man in ISSP now that Bob had quit. He made a few calls and found an old cop he once knew who was now a captain in charge of evidence named Donnelly. He called in a favor and asked Donnelly to scan the license plate number that Faye had given him. It came back to a citizen of Ganymede named Robert Sorenson. He had no criminal record. Not even a parking ticket. Jet asked him not to repeat anything that the two had discussed. He knew other bounty hunters had their sources as well. It was a very competitive business.  
  
The Bebop crew boarded the ship and sped off towards Ganymede right away. Once they landed, they wasted no time at all. The first thing they did upon arrival was to locate Sorenson's apartment. Donnelly had given Jet all the personal information about Sorenson that the DMV had on file. Jet and Faye entered the building and Lau went around the side. As Jet and Faye approached the door to the apartment, they made sure that Lau had the fire escape covered. Jet counted to three and kicked the door in. There was no one home. They hadn't given Sorenson enough time to return. It was the neatest, tidiest apartment they had ever seen. There were no drugs, no weapons, no extremist literature or any of the other things you might expect to see in a serial killer's apartment. They signaled for Lau to join them inside.  
  
"What I don't get is why anyone without a conviction would have a problem with bounty hunters," complained Lau. "The solar system would be ten times more dangerous without us." "This guy could have had a friend or relative who was arrested by a bounty hunter," said Faye as she lit a cigarette. "Oh, there have been age old complaints about our profession for years," replied Jet. "Some people get mad because they don't want anyone but cops to arrest people, some people think we see human beings as dollar signs, and others don't think we're regulated enough and that we're reckless." "Are we?" asked Lau. "Hey, be proud of what you do," replied Jet. "We're out there to get the bad guys. The cops love us. A lot of evil, dangerous people are behind bars because of us."  
  
Faye stepped outside the apartment into the hallway to extinguish her cigarette. That's when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A man entered the hallway and stopped dead when he saw her. A man with a blonde pony tail. Faye and Sorenson recognized each other immediately. Once again, Sorenson was quicker on the draw then she was and she had to jump back into the apartment to avoid being shot. She could hear him running back down the stairs. Without saying a word, Jet and Faye took off after him right away. Lau climbed out the window and ran down the fire escape. Faye and Jet chased him down the stairs, out of the building and into the street. That's when Faye saw him heading for his car again. This time she had taken the time to rent a car of her own. She jumped in the rental car and cranked the engine. "Faye, no! We're responsible for this thing if it gets damaged!" yelled Jet. She ignored him and he had to jump in next to her.  
  
Once again they got into an enormous chase. Luckily this rental car had a V8 engine which was far superior to that taxi's V4. They could accelerate better and there was little chance of throwing a rod now. Sorenson entered the expressway and Faye tore off after him. Jet kept trying to get a clear shot at one of his tires, but he kept weaving in and out of traffic. Not only that, but the freeway was crowded and Jet was worried about hitting another motorist. Overhead, the Swordfish was following all of the action. Lau also wanted to fire at the guy but couldn't because of the crowded roadway. Without any warning, Sorenson exited the freeway very suddenly. Faye tried to follow but couldn't. She lost control of the car and went into a grassy area just to the side of the exit ramp. The car wasn't damaged, but they were stuck in the mud. That left just Lau.  
  
The road Sorenson was on now was an industrial route that went between several factories. Lau couldn't get too close since it was such a narrow road. The buildings were just too close to one another. Just then, he noticed several police units getting involved in the chase on the ground. "Aw crap!" thought Lau. He figured that it was only right that a bounty hunter should catch this guy. This was personal. Besides, if the cops caught him, Lau wouldn't get any of the bounty. Sorenson raced towards an intersection and sped through a red light. He just missed getting hit by a delivery truck. The police units were blocked off by the truck and unable to follow. "All right you sick little freak, you're all mine," gloated Lau. He was now able to fly a little lower. He used his machine gun to target the tires on Sorenson's car. Success! The tires blew out and the car flipped over!  
  
Sorenson hadn't been hurt. Even in that position he had managed to get out of the car and make a run for it. Lau looked for a place to land. Just then another car pulled up. Lau couldn't quite make out what was going on until...oh no! Sorenson was putting his hands up. The other car must have had another bounty hunter.  
  
Back on the Bebop, the crew watched all the news coverage of Sorenson's arrest. "Sorenson was single handedly responsible for killing seven men. The only link between his victims was that all of them had been bounty hunters," said the TV anchor. "This is so damned typical," groaned Faye. "We do all the work, we get shot at and someone else catches the guy." "When asked by police why he had targeted bounty hunters, Sorenson gave an unusual reply. His reason: taxes," said the anchor. Everyone one the Bebop was awestruck. "Yes, that's right, taxes. Apparently he was sick and tired of his tax money being used to pay bounties on fugitives that the police offer." "Taxes?!" yelled Faye. "We nearly got killed over taxes? I'm gonna kill that guy!" The TV anchor continued the report. "Ironically enough, the man who finally brought down Sorenson was a bounty hunter named Erik Lelos. Lelos's younger brother, Troy, had been Sorenson's first victim. The brothers had worked as a team for nearly a decade catching fugitives on Ganymede."  
  
Jet switched off the TV. "OK, I admit it, this guy deserved to get him more than us," moaned Faye. She slunk down unto the couch and put her head on Lau's lap. Lau smiled and bent over and kissed her. "OK, what's the deal here?" asked Jet. "You two official now or what?" Lau smiled at Jet. "Hey, it's the classic modern love story. Guy meets girl, girl arrests guy, guy's friends try to kill girl, the perfect ingredients for love my friend." Hey, works for me," smirked Faye.  
  
SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY  
  
(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner jak981125@catholic.org  
  
Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't. This is just fanfiction 


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